Third Man BooksJack White has made his debut as a children's author with We're Going to Be Friends, a book based the White Stripes song of the same name. The book was illustrated by Elinor Blake, who's worked on The Ren and Stimpy Show and Pee Wee's Playhouse.

"Jack [gave me] very, very little direction," Blake tells Billboard of the genesis of the book. "Just black, white and red and not necessarily human characters."

Blake and White have actually been long connected: they were both signed to the garage-punk record label Sympathy for the Record Industry. "We came from the same scene," Blake says.

Years later, Blake sent a drawing of hers to White, which led to their current collaboration. However, they didn't meet face-to-face until they participated in a book signing for We're Going to Be Friends in Los Angeles earlier this month.

"It was really great to spend time with him and see how much of an overlap [creatively] there was, which I already felt," Blake says. "He didn't really need to explain much to me, and I didn’t really need to explain much to him. It’s hard to get something so pure."

We're Going to Be Friends is out now. Meanwhile, White is currently working on his next solo album, due out next year.